MFW Adventures Wrap Up: Wks 19-21

I can’t seem to get on the ball about writing WEEKLY wrap ups… so here’s another summary of our last few weeks in Adventures!

Bible: The girls are learning about the Names of Christ – Jesus as the Lamb of God and He is the Vine. 

Our memory verse: John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

Remember… what can you do without the Lord?  NOTHING

 

Did I say I LOVE the NIrV Discoverer’s Bible?   Well I’m saying it again.  This should be a gift for EVERY CHILD.  It is written at a 2.9 grade level.

Our MFW Adventures Bible lesson was the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  They were Daniel’s friends. 

Do you remember that story?  Well I thought I did until I read it again today.  Their obedience and trust in the Lord, whether He saved them or not, changed the hard-heart of Nebacanezzer (or however you spell his name).

Ask yourself….Are YOU sold out for God?  Do you trust He has your best interests in mind?  Even amidst your trials?  Not sure I can say yes all the time either. 

Check out their story in Daniel 3:13-30.

History:  We continued our State study into Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana and Mississippi.  The girls enjoyed learning how to spell Miss-iss-ippi !

Here’s a link to my favorite State books from Sleeping Bear Press - Discover America State By State

What was going on in the early 1800’s?

The pioneers traveled West and down the Ohio River, Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana purchase, the Lewis and Clark expedition, War of 1812, The Star Spangled Banner was written, and Robert Fulton invented the steam boat!  Wow…history is packed full of fun.

Book Basket:  Our favorites…

Science: 

Week 19 – The girls learned about Animal Classifications:  Mammal, Bird, Fish, Amphibian and Reptiles –noting their similarities and differences.

Week 20 – Plant growth and seeds

Week 21 – Water is in everything!

Our Adventures Co-op Kids had a variety of sliced fruit. They were to squeeze it and determine which fruit had the most juice (which is mostly made up of water), if it tasted different than the fruit and if the juice was the same color.

Time to squish the kiwi…

Now a lemon…

Oranges and berries too.

Well – the orange slice has the most juice and it is made up of little cells - big enough to see and break apart! The juice taste and color is similar to the fruit slice.

Next, the kids dyed a piece of white fabric with a blackberry.  The berry juice stained the material, much like they used to dye fabrics in early times. Berry juice colors are called natural dyes. Check out the book “A New Coat for Anna” for more details!

Check out our Winter Wednesday Nature Study here!

Sketch Tuesday: U is for Ugly

Join us each week as we participate in Barb’s SKETCH TUESDAY!

Each Tuesday, Barb posts a new sketch assignment on the Harmony Art Mom blog. Participate just when you and the kids want too.  No sign up is necessary.

Share your family’s sketches in Barb’s Sketch Tuesday slide show.  More details posted here.

I’m not much for doing art with my kids.  Crafts are fine but art and sketching…Not!  So S.T. helps keep me accountable by incorporating FUN in our school day!

Assignment: U is for Ugly

(*** warning – police monster had “boy parts” which mom turned into a tail)

Enjoy!

Winter Weds: Finding Winter Colors

Winter is here.

“ugh”, says Mom

"YEA!”, say the girls

Winter displays a lot of white in our state.  But what other colors are in our yard?

That was our Winter Wednesday challenge this from Barb at Handbook of Nature Study blog.  Here’s the challenge details.

The girls were to label the colors of Winter with color word cards.  Here’s what they found:

 

We had a great time on our Nature walk this week.   There were so many other colors amidst the Winter white.  I was surprised and I think the girls were too!  They were wanting to put the color labels on things like the green slide and the black trash can.  I had to remind them that we were labeling “the colorful things that God made!”

When you buy the Winter Wednesday challenge from Barb you receive the notebooking pages too!

Check out what other’s are doing with their Winter Wednesday challenges here!

Enjoy time with your kids OUTSIDE!

Review: SPEEKEE Spanish for Kids!

“Speekee TV is designed so that children can learn Spanish in their own time at their own pace.”   It is safe, secure and fun for your kids.

Their website lists 10 reasons why YOU should choose SPEEKEE for your family:

1. Great fun and extremely effective – My girls LOVED this program
2. Created by special linguists and musicians – Fun songs
3. Accelerated learning methodology for natural success
4. 100% in Spanish (with both English and Spanish subtitles)
5. Simple presentation style
6. Lively, engaging characters – Puppets and children
7. Real Spanish children in Spanish locations – My girls LOVED listening and watching the other children
8. Concise, essential Spanish vocabulary, with LOTS of repetition
9. Catchy songs – Songs you will hear your kids sing when they are playing
10. Highly acclaimed by our customers – I agree!

Target age: 2 – 10 years old

Format and Price:

Online format offers 10 episodes with free activity sheet downloads at $7.50/month (use PayPal to subscribe – unsubscribe at any time – there’s No minimum period)

Also available on DVD.  For more information click here.

Activity sheet samples:

Order the online format get the first 2 weeks free! – click here

My thoughts:

My daughters LOVED Speekee.  They asked for it, especially my 5 year old.  I would hear her sing the songs when she played.  Some evenings she would watch 3 of the Speekee TV videos at one time.  She also incorporated Spanish words into her conversations throughout the day, especially “please”, “thank you”, “where are we going today?”, and the color words.

I have to admit when I first received this product to review…. I sighed ugh.  But it is an engaging, interactive, fun, and hands free program to add to your homeschool.

My favorite part of the program is that I do not have to plan lessons. I just turn on a Speekee TV lesson, read, sing and talk along with the children on the video, and pause the video at any time to speak Spanish with my girls. Also for fun and to review our new words from the lesson, the girls and I completed the lesson activity sheets. 

My daughters’ least favorite part of the lessons were the ‘sock’ puppets.  They were kind of creepy to them and their voices were difficult to understand.  They enjoyed the children and the ‘Speekee’ puppet.

This program allowed me to see that I CAN incorporate a foreign language in our homeschool.  I just had to have the right program!

Check out the Speekee website for a demonstration video!

See what other’s on This Old Schoolhouse CREW has to say about Speekee here.

 

Enjoy!

Disclaimer:  This product was given to me free of charge, for a time frame, for review purposes only.  All opinions expressed are my own.

 

 

MFW Adventures: Wrap Up Weeks 16-18

Ok…I’m SO behind on my weekly wrap ups.  So this is going to be a brief summary of our last 3 weeks – just noting the highlights.

Bible:  I absolutely LOVE the scripture studies these past few weeks.

We have been learning the names of Jesus: Lamb of God and Immanuel.  The meaning of Immanuel, “God is With Us”, was especially dear to our hearts during the Christmas season. 

We read about the Jesse Tree and put the symbols on our tree.

A few of our favorite movies have been “The Prince of Egypt” with Moses and Pharaoh and “The Nutcracker”. 

The Lamb of God verses were so encouraging to read.  In John 1:29 … Jesus is baptized by John ..” the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. 

Our OT study was in Exodus, where the Israelites' were slaves in Egypt.  I think it was awesome that God showed His righteousness by pouring out His wrath during the Passover.  He made a way for His People to be free of His judgment if they were obedient. 

The Discoverers’ Bible in the MFW Adventures curriculum is so wonderful because the girls get to enjoy God’s Word!

History: We have continued our study of the States in order of Statehood: traveling from Rhode Island, Vermont, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio. 

The historical figures we’ve studied have been a lot of fun too: Daniel Boone and Eli Whitney.  I have really enjoyed our early Pioneer travels westward.  We have been reading about how they loaded up all they had, including animals, and floated on flat-boats down the Ohio river to new territories among the Indians.

Book Basket: Our book basket favorites - historical figures like Eli Whitney, his Cotton Gin and Johnny Appleseed!  The girls really learned a lot about sheep and wool too!  “A New Coat For Anna” was their favorite story.

Science:  We’ve covered several areas in science over the last few weeks.  weather, wind, living / non-living things, cells and animal kingdoms. 

Our favorite project was creating a 3-D Animal Cell model with jello and candies.

1. Make the jello – cool on the counter

2. Cool the jello in a “cellular” shape in the refrigerator – in baggies

3. Color and label “Plant cell” model worksheets from KB Teachers website

4.  Collect your “cellular” parts – candies or fruit

5. Cut the baggie (cellular membrane) and fill the jello-animal-cell with important parts to make it a fully functioning EDIBLE cell!

6. EAT!

This wraps up our last few weeks in MFW Adventures!  See what Kattie is doing in MFW 1st Grade at 2 Lady bugs and a Lizard !